About 2.3 million tourists have visited Iran during the current Iranian year (March 21, 2009 to March 20, 2010), says the deputy director of the country's Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization.

“The figures show a seven percent increase compared to those of the previous year,” Seyyed Reza Mousavi says told IRNA on Friday.

“The tourists came to Iran through 22 ports of entry,” he went on to say.

He further pointed out that about one million tourists visited the holy city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran.

“About 70,000 of the tourists were from Turkey, 3,000 from Germany, and 3,000 from China, with the rest being from other countries,” he explained.

Mousavi also said that last year's H1N1 flu virus in various countries prevented tourists from coming to Iran.